Scott Parker was delighted that Fulham secured a victory over brave Nottingham Forest last night ‘without playing at our best’ and urged his team-mates to ‘keep grinding out results’ as Slavisa Jokanovic’s side chase down the Championship’s top six.
The Fulham captain, who once again was introduced for final stages of another five-goal thriller, told Talksport after the final whistle that the Whites are showing real steel as the season gets down to what he described as the ‘nitty-gritty’:
A big win. I think you’re getting to the nitty-gritty of it, to be fair, where it’s just about results really – and just keep grinding out results. At the moment, that’s what we seem to be doing. I don’t think we’ve played at our best the last couple of weeks but we’re managed to get six points in a week, so it’s been important.
I think we’re going to have to put a run together, which we know we’ve got to do. You know we have the [FA] Cup at the weekend and then we go into another couple of games in the space of the next week, like you know, I think you’re right we’ve got to put a run together, we’re chasing down [the top six]. I sometimes think that might be a good position we’re in, to be fair. I think what’s good at the moment is we’re not playing great, not the best we’ve played and we’re still getting results. That’s pleasing.
As a former Tottenham player, Parker is eagerly anticipating Sunday’s fourth round FA Cup tie against Spurs at Craven Cottage.
Very much so. Obviously old club, always good to see familiar faces and obviously a very good side, with a fantastic manager, so looking forward to seeing it. I have some fond memories of playing at Spurs, it was a good time for me really, so I’m looking forward to it. We go in there as underdogs, like you see, they coming here after a Thursday night game, I think they go again the following Thursday so I don’t know how Mauricio Pochettino’s going to view and how he’s going to use his squad but we beat a Premier League side here in the last round and we’re pretty confident, so I’m sure we’ll give a good account of ourselves.
The veteran midfielder also has a view on the sad decline of the world’s oldest club cup competition – fondly remembering his days of watching the showcase final as a youngster.
I was brought up on it, it was something when I was growing up, which was a whole day thing. I remember waking up early in the morning and literally you was watching the teams getting on the bus, coming out the hotel, so it was a massive thing for me. I suppose over the years it has lost that little bit of spark really and it’s a real shame but I suppose that’s what happens. That’s the world we are in today, it’s very different to when I was growing up.
